


The Road Home

by queeniesye



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, One Shot Collection, Romance, Tender - Freeform, maybe a character study?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:02:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28293540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queeniesye/pseuds/queeniesye
Summary: Four friends are having a road trip back to their hometowns. Two are lovers, the other two are... well, sort of complicated because some feelings are not properly conveyed.And the trip will, perhaps, transform the situation.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	The Road Home

**Author's Note:**

> A hollywoodesque story largely inspired by the frequent sunset rides I've been taking recently... and my fantasy of falling in love during trips to faraway lands lmao

3pm.

On a grey asphalt road stretching across a parched desert wilderness, a white pickup truck dusted by sands is moving. Inside, a slow alternative rock song is booming through the stereos from the 70.1 FM radio station. Fighting against humid air drifting in through tiny open spaces are air-conditioners running on full blast. Controlling the truck at the driver’s seat is a blonde man with hair stiffened by a musky gel so its ends would spike. The dog tag hanging around his neck bears his name: Cloud Strife. At the front passenger seat beside him, a man with a scar on his lower right cheek – his best friend, Zack is snoring quietly through his nose.

Cloud’s pair of royal blue eyes shift from the scenery beyond the windshield, to the rear view mirror. He catches sight of a woman who has her head resting against the back passenger seat. Barely concealed by her freely flowing black hair are the earphones sticking out from her ears and a tattoo of a name that belongs to someone he does not recognise on her upper right chest. Her garnet eyes would shut at times, only to open again a few seconds later as they battle with her urge to doze off.

Watching her crafts a tender smile on his lips.

Her name is Tifa Lockhart, introduced to him as a mutual friend of Zack’s girlfriend, a brunette with long braided hair named Aerith who is now asleep by Tifa’s side. He was instantly smitten with her.

He can swear with his life that she might be the prettiest woman he has ever met. When she speaks, there is some kind of a quiet determination that makes him admire her even more, and a gentleness that reminds him of flowers that bloom in early spring. Knowing that they share the same hometown and migrated to the same city has Cloud convinced that there must be a reason for their meeting.

He is just not sure how to tell her his feelings yet.

***

5pm.

Cloud is tired of driving through the same backdrop of barren land for hours. So he extends an arm out to shake Zack awake. Zack roused almost immediately with eyes squinting through the stupor of drowsiness.

“It’s your time to drive,” Cloud says while Zack is stretching up his arms.

He parks the truck by the side of the road and exits to take his place at the front passenger seat. Zack is barely awake but he obliges anyway and pushes himself to take over control of the vehicle. Noises from them talking and closing the doors are loud enough to wake their other companions and Cloud quickly apologizes. Aerith grunts in reply, crossed that her sleep is disturbed before adjusting her posture to find a comfortable position for her to doze off again.

Tifa is fully awake now and reassures him, “It’s okay, Cloud.” She rubs traces of drowsiness from her eyes and starts looking out of her side window.

The truck continues to move along the road and passes by a wandering alligator. With the sun almost at the horizon, the heat is becoming tolerable, encouraging Zack to lower the speed of the air-conditioners one level down. Cloud fishes out a small dark green tin from his bag and retrieves a mint to put and munch in his mouth. Then he turns and offers the mints to Tifa, which she accepts.

“Hey… don’t you think you should have offered the mints to me _first_?” Zack remarks. “I am at your side, y’know.”

Tifa chuckles, bringing heat to Cloud’s cheeks.

“Shut up, Zack,” he mutters. He shoves the tin of mints back into his bag, no longer willing to offer them to his annoying best friend.

Zack flashes him a smirk and he hopes that Tifa does not see it.

***

6pm.

The sun has set and an orange sea washes over the entire sky. The white pickup truck is parked at a designated spot in Gold Saucer and is empty of occupants. Cloud and his companions have all gone to the restrooms to attend to nature’s calls. When Cloud returns to the truck, he finds Tifa leaning against the vehicle and watching the sky. Upon realizing his presence, the corners of her lips lift into a smile.

A cacophony of sounds are blaring from the array of attractions; there are children laughing alongside their parents, the screams of people on risky but thrilling rides, and merry music playing on an endless loop. But these rackets come as nothing but blurry notes in Cloud’s ears as his eyes land on Tifa’s a couple of times. The bright and eye-catching setting of the amusement park is also lost to him. Her smile is the only thing that he is aware of at that moment.

“So… are you looking forward to go back home?” she asks, striking a conversation.

He rubs the back of his head. “To be frank, I’m not really sure how to feel.” He wishes his answer has been more positive but that is all that he could come up with. “It’s been years since I left.”

“I get you,” she nods. “I don’t know how to feel either.”

She moves her hand to touch on the area where her tattoo is on her chest. He knows her well enough to know that it is a habit she does once in a while. The tattoo is a source of curiosity to him but he never asked, for he thought there is no appropriate reason to.

Yet, now he feels like he has to. “If you don’t mind me asking… what’s that on your tattoo?”

“Oh this?” she points a finger to the tattoo and he observes as glumness replaces the joy on her face. “It’s my mother’s name.”

There is no need for him to ask what has happened to her mother; he can guess. “Sorry,” he tells her, remorseful over making her bring up a subject that is probably heavy for her.

Tifa shakes her head, “It’s alright.” Then she breathes in and releases a gust of air, “This tattoo makes me feel close to her even if she’s far away.”

When they look at each other again, she exchanges a smile with him.

“What are you going to do when we get there?” he asks, shoving his hands into his trouser pockets.

She hums, deep in thought. “I think I’ll try to score a temporary gig at the Shinra Manor’s restaurant,” she says. “If I remember correctly... they have a piano there.”

“I’ll look forward to watching you perform then,” he promises.

Tifa works as a pianist at a high-end restaurant several sectors away by train from his workplace in downtown Midgar. He may be a busy salary man but whenever possible, he fills the little spare times he has on his schedule to come and watch her play.

Though… she is unaware as he is always seated at corners where she would not be able to catch him.

“How about you?” she asks, rightfully curious about him too. “What are your plans?”

He shrugs, “Probably will just go look around to see how much has changed.” He gazes away as he adds, “And I’ll go and visit the grave of my parents.”

“I’ll come too,” she says, to his surprise. “I’ll bring flowers with me.”

From within his chest, his heart is drumming. It feels like it would burst and its pieces would spill out of his mouth. So he bends his head down, too overwhelmed to look at her in the eyes.

After swallowing several times, he manages to mumble, “Thanks…”

***

8pm.

Aerith is now seated at the front passenger seat, singing along with Zack to a popular pop song that is playing from the 62.4 FM radio station. Both of her feet are up on the dashboard and tapping in accordance to the beat of the music. The moon is up in the sky and follows the truck as it continues to move on one side of the road. The air-conditioners are at their lowest speed. Cloud is sitting at the passenger seat next to Tifa, with headphones covering his ears.

Tifa has her side window rolled down. Her chin is laid against her folded arms that are on top of the rubber trim. Her head is peeking out as she stares at the total darkness around them. Her hair is swaying wildly in the air but it does not bother her.

“How many hours left ‘til we reach Gongaga?” Aerith inquires, turning on the light from her phone to shine on the map she has just unfolded.

A country song starts playing from the stereos and Zack is tapping a finger on the driving wheel. “About 8 more hours, I think,” he answers.

Gongaga will be their first stop. It is Zack’s hometown and no one in the truck knows the way to reach it more than he does.

“So we’ll be camping out?” Aerith asks again.

Zack grins rather suggestively before humming his reply, “Mmhmm.”

“I see…” Aerith grins too. “I can’t wait.”

Cloud pays no heed to the private conversation the lovers are having.

He is busy trying to preserve the memory of Tifa looking out at the window in his mind.

***

12.15am.

The truck is parked at the side of the road again. The night is dead silent, except for the distant sound of coyotes howling. Lights from the truck and their phones are helping them navigate through the dark surroundings. With clutters of blinking stars in the skies, the scenery is less scary and more breath-taking.

At the cargo area, Cloud and Zack are counting their final few stocks of food left to sustain the rest of their journey. Aerith and Tifa are inside the truck, bending and preparing the seats to turn them into a comfortable resting area. Cloud steals a glance once at them and catches them whispering into one another’s ears.

 _What are they up to?_ He wonders.

It is right after they have descended from the cargo area when Aerith jumps out of the truck.

“Well! I think it’s time for us to retreat to bed now,” she announces, with hands on her hips and eyes that never seem to stop shifting from Zack to him, and then back to Zack.

From inside the truck, he hears Tifa saying, “I think I’m not sleepy yet.”

A brief silence ensues. Aerith adjusts her voice.

Tifa continues, “Let’s go someplace else… Cloud.”

“Yeah… go with her, Cloud,” Zack chimes in.

When Zack gawks at him, Aerith imitates. Now they are both staring at him…

“Go watch the stars with her… or something,” Zack goes on further.

Cloud frowns. _What the hell is going on?_

Tifa comes out of the truck and starts walking away. He watches her with confusion, until she stops in the midst of it to call him, “Let’s go?”

He glances first at Zack, and afterwards at Aerith. Both raise their eyebrows as if telling him that he has no other choice but to join Tifa.

***

12.30am.

The truck is hardly visible from Cloud’s view. Tifa finally decides to stop walking and sits on the steel barriers by the side of the road. From the breast pocket of his leather jackets, he takes out a packet of cigarettes and offers it to her. She opts to take one roll for herself before thanking him. A lighter flicks and the air is soon thick with billows of smoke that the pair is puffing out, amassing the smell of nicotine around them.

“They’re humping… in the truck,” Tifa tells him, out of the blue as she draws in another round of smoke from her roll.

Cloud darts his eyes towards the truck and notices the way it wobbles. He sighs, releasing smoke out of his nose and mouth.

Tifa laughs, “Sorry! I didn’t know the best way to tell you.”

His cigarette roll is wearing out, so he throws it to the ground and crushes it underneath the sole of his boots. Tifa does the same.

Their eyes are now on the sky, watching the stars as they twinkle, bringing a sense of nostalgia in him. There is a water tower back in their hometown of Nibelheim, at the heart of the town square where anyone can climb to get a closer view of the sky. He used to go there as a kid whenever he seeks for a peace of his mind.

Now he wants to share those moments with her.

The discretion of the moment makes it easier for Cloud to voice out his wish, “Hey… let’s watch the stars again together there… in Nibelheim.”

“Sure,” Tifa smiles. “They are the prettiest to look at from the water tower, after all.”

Her eyes gleam in the darkness, making his heart leap.

Night chill is settling in the air and Tifa begins hugging herself. Cloud wants to take her back to the truck but the watch around his wrist tells him that the time is still 1am. The silly lovers that they left behind are probably still doing the do, he assumes. Instead, he takes off his jacket and tries to wrap it around her. 

“You’re going to get cold,” she says. A look of worry lines the features of her face.

“It’s okay,” he assures her. “As long as you don’t.”

Then it happens. She tugs on his tank top and draws him closer, where their lips soon meet. Her lips are as soft as he has always imagined… like feathers running on one’s skin. And his heart flutters along, almost lifting and carrying the rest of his body into the air. When she breaks the kiss, he continues by kissing her again, never wanting to leave the safe haven that is tucked along the lines of her lips.

Their kiss finally ends and Cloud purses his lips, not knowing what to say.

“Should we… get back?” she asks, dispelling the awkwardness between them.

Once they have arrived at the spot where the truck is parked, they find Aerith and Zack fast asleep in one another’s arms. Tifa pulls him to the back of the truck and beckons him to climb into the cargo area with her. He abides by her request, then helps her spread out a wool blanket to cover the rough surface of the area. With their jackets as pillows, they lie down together side by side.

Tifa fits under the embrace of his arms perfectly.

***

8am.

Cloud and his companions are back on the road since two hours ago.

Tifa is now sitting at the front passenger seat, reading a book. He glimpses at her once in a while, like he always does.

But at least now he does not have to worry over letting his feelings about her known.

**Author's Note:**

> Now i want to go on a road trip!


End file.
